zgrinder on Fin Warrior

No worries, next outing you will catch them all!

I just go around to posting our Friday evening report. Same thing as your morning troll. Lake was empty.

Fished a 9 rod spread working 70-80 FOW and managed only on Steelhead and 3 very short runs. One large white paddle and spoon on a 4' leader on a DR down low and all other presentations 30-50' down. Meat on SWR DR, spoons on other two DRs, spoons on Dreamweaver Ninja divers, 5-color with spoon, 10 color with watermelon Brads Cut Plug (the one SH) and 200 WS with spoon. Marked few fish and no bait with the exception of one spot near Saugy in 74 FOW. Changed over to dark and glow for the night bite and not even a tip up. A couple of SH were reported caught in 120 FOW where there appeared to be a concentration of boats. Not that many were on the inside. Prior to the 2-day blow this was the money spot. The lake and air temp was perfect with no flies so we did enjoy that part of the night.

Fished this evening between Holland and Saugatuck sporting 4 riggers, to 1.5 set mono dipseys and 300 weighted steel & 15 color leadcore. Lines down just before 7:00pm. Lowest bait was 55' down. Most were 30-45' down. Started at first in 115-100 FOW on a south troll. Speed at the ball was 2.7mph for the most part going south. One quick hit near Saugatuck and that was it. Very disappointing. Flipped around North working 90 FOW and not much happened till I started changing the baits. SD/fly set ups were stone cold. RV/UV mag spoons brought no interest. Moved the SD/flies out of the spread for spoons keeping a SD/Brads Cut Plug on 300 WS. Moved all the RV/UV spoons out of the spread for either white or dark Mags. After the sunset we got most of our action. The Silver Streak Mag Pink Panties on a dipsey down 32 feet got bit 5 or 6 times just before and after sunset. Several good runs with a brief fight came up empty. Changed out the bent hook and replacing it with a sharp 2/0 VMC allowed us to land the last strike on that set up, about a 12lb king. Had a good long fight on the 300 WS with a Brads Cut Plug but lost that one close to the back of the boat. DW Mag Blue Green Spotted Dolphin 42' down on a rigger go us another 12lb ish king. Other bites came on a dark hand painted J-plug (SWR); Moonshine Mag soda (12# test rigger); and something else I can't remember. After sunset we had 2 short lived triples and landed only one on each occasion. Too many tips going ujp for the three of us to keep an accurate count of the legitimate strikes. Looking back on missed opportunities, I think the RV/UV lures that were high in the water column was the wrong way to go. After changing to non-reflective spoons, we go interest. Green or blue orSalmon Candy UV flies on a 8" spin doctor, 24" or 30" leader, rigger or dipsey was not a salmon favorite tonight. My purple Stinger high on a dipsey did not get hit after sunset. This presentation is usually money. Bloody nose likely would have been a better choice. Currents were strong and heading north was easier than south to control speed. Heading south, SOG varied from 4.0mph to 3.2. Trolling valves were engaged and disengaged many times to try to manage the speed changes. Troll direction was a better manager of speed.